Chalmers’ Sale of Goods has long been established as a classic exposition of this detailed area of the law. The 18th edn. is welcomed for its comprehensive analysis of the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

The format of the book is as in previous editions. Of interest to historians of the subject is M. D. Chalmers’ Introduction to the First Edition (1894). Chalmers of course drafted the Sale of Goods Act 1893 and in this Introduction he recounts its history. Changes in the legislative philosophy from the laissez-faire approach of the original Act of 1893 to the protectionism of the 1960s and 1970s are reflected in the section entitled “Statutory Controls over the Sale of Goods” which gives a brief account of the major consumer protection statutes of the last two decades, drawing together such common features as the persons liable to prosecution, defences, penalties, and the rights of the buyer where the seller has committed a statutory offence. The authors have also revised and extended the passage on licences in the section on the international sale of goods.

The main body of the book contains a section by section analysis of the Sale of Goods Act 1979. The text of each section is followed by a reference to its derivation from the 1893 Act, useful to those familiar with the section numbers of the 1893 Act, but not of the 1979 Act. Where changes are several, a table of comparison is to be found, as for example on p. 114 in respect of s. 12. The text of many sections is followed by a number of illustrations of the application of the law. Of great value are the illustrations of s. 55. These contain an analysis of common exclusion and limited liability clauses in the light of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. In addition to the illustrations there is a comment on each section. Above all, these comments are practical and comprehensive. A good example of this is to be found in the distillation of the principles of reservation of title following Aluminium Industrie Vassen B. V. v. Romalpa Aluminium Ltd.; Borden (U.K.) Ltd. v. Scottish Timber Products Ltd. and Re Bond Worth in the comment on s. 48.

The book concludes with a textual analysis of the relevant parts of, inter alia, the Factors Act 1889 (with the very appropriate comment on Victorian legislative drafting as “a model of the art of saying few things in many words”), Bills of Sale Act 1878,